Source: Sundaymail.co.zwBy Tendai CharaDriving towards Kezi from Bulawayo can be a rare spectacle filled with pleasure. After only a few kilometres from the country’s second biggest city, large herds of grazing livestock are usually seen munching grass as they seem unfazed by the noise emanating from the many vehicles from the busy highway. Further down the road, the landscape becomes particularly spectacular with valleys that are surrounded by both huge and small granite outcrops. Balancing rocks hang precariously as if they might fall off any time. It is in this vast conservation area that the Matopos National Park, a World Heritage site which is rich in both history and culture, is located.Intertwined with this beautiful scenery is the abundant wildlife. From the squirrel to the giraffe to the endangered black rhino, the park is pregnant with a variety of reptiles, birds and several animal species. The park is home to the zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, eland, reedbuck, impala and sable among other animals. Apart from the popular game drives, the historical tours and the rock paintings, visitors can also visit the grave of Cecil John Rhodes. Shangani Memorial, which chronicles the often bloody historical conflicts between the white colonial settlers and the Ndebele people, is situated some few kilometres from the highway. To the visitors, the area surrounding the Matopos National Park is a haven of tranquillity and beauty. However, it is in these serene environs and many other animal conservancies across the country that vicious “wars” to save the rhino from extinction are being fought. Officers from the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management, villagers living in areas surrounding the park and tourism and conservation organisations are engaged in a bitter struggle to stop poaching activities and save the endangered rhino from extinction. There are growing concerns that if the rhinos are not protected, they will, like the pre-historic dinosaurs, soon become extinct. During the past five years, there has been an alarming increase in rhino poaching which is threatening the existence of the animal species. More....

Source: Ippmedia.comBy Gerald KitabuA thunderous wheezing sound from a group of hippopotamuses floating on Katuma River near Sitalike village could be heard as we entered the Katavi National Park in Mpanda district, Katavi region enthralling Bishop Charles Gadi of the Dar es Salaam based Good News for All Ministry. He braved the scotching sun capturing every event that was taking place in the River. Katuma River is the vital lifeline of the Park which feeds Lake Katavi in the north and Lake Chada in the centre as well as the huge Katisunga floodplain. In recent years, apart from being used as the source of water for varieties of wild animals, has also become home to thousands of hippopotamuses and crocodiles. Despite being the third largest National Park in Tanzania, Katavi national park was not even known to many people in the country. After getting out of the vehicle to take some photos a group of journalists could see hundreds of grunting hippos murmuring and squeezing themselves into the muddy water. It was journey full of joy, sympathies, friendship, and laughter. Casual glances at trees along the road that crossed the river from Mpanda town to Sumbawanga district, Rukwa region, journalists could see birds swaying smoothly on feeble branches preening their feathers excitedly as they prepared to play on the soft backs of the hippos. Beautiful vegetation and green environment inside and around the national park, has attracted a variety of huge animals, plants and birds species. As he was strolling further through tall green grasses, incredible scenery that include immense wetlands, roaring waterfalls and original miombo woodlands, where the sable antelopes often hide, were enough charm to journalists. However, despite all the wonders that are actually key to attracting tourism in the park which earn foreign currency for the nation’s economy, the national park is faced with several challenges both inside and outside it. More....

Source: Blog.Africageographic.comAn alpha female has been re-collared and two young wild dogs collared for the first time in the 13 member-strong pack at Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia, in anticipation of a natural split in the group.The VHF collars fitted to the three dogs will enable researchers from African Parks and the Zambian Carnivore Programme (ZCP) to track them within the 3 660 km² expanse of Liuwa Plain. Wild dogs typically cover between 5 to 10 kilometres per hunting period, hunting twice a day early morning and late afternoon into the night. Without collars it is difficult for researchers to keep abreast of their movements. The satellite collars fitted to the dogs will function for three years. In order for the collars to be attached the dogs were first sedated. The tranquilising darts were fired at close range by an experienced wildlife veterinarian and took the standard 5 to 10 minutes to take effect. The closer the darter to the animal, the less velocity required which ultimately means a softer impact for the animal. The collar was attached on each animal while it was unconscious. Once the collar had been fitted and a health examination completed, a reversal drug was administered to induce consciousness. During the procedures each of the dogs was carefully monitored and a check kept on their vital signs by the veterinary and research teams. Water was also applied regularly to their coats to help keep them cool. The entire process from the initial darting to recovery took approximately 30 minutes per wild dog. The veterinary and research teams remained with each dog while it emerged from its “wobbly” stage, until it was evident it had made a total recovery.The Liuwa research team, led by Jassiel M’soka and Egil Dröge from ZCP, is studying a range of wild dog characteristics and trends including their birth and mortality rates, their hunting efforts and successes, and kleptoparasitism (a form of feeding in which one animal takes prey from another) by hyena and lion. The ZCP team is also investigating the behavioural impact wild dogs (and other predators) have on their prey species. “At Liuwa our study of wild dogs is researching their effect on their main prey, namely wildebeest, zebra and oribi. From other studies it is known that predators can affect the body condition, including the fertility rates, of their prey,” said Dröge. More....

Source: AllAfrica.comBy Kiplangat KiruiA conservation group has acquired sniffer dogs to track down poachers in the Masai Mara Game Reserve. The Mara Conservancy, which manages the Mara Triangle, has imported six dogs from Colorado, USA, in a bid to eliminate poaching in the wildlife sanctuary. Mara Triangle senior warden Joseph Kimojino said the first two 11-month-old males have "begun their duty" at Enkiro Enkare on the Kenya-Tanzania border. The two join a pack of dogs that lead a joint security team to poachers' hideout in Tarime, Tanzania recently. "The eight tracker dog handlers recruited by the conservancy have undergone a two-month training on how to handle the special dogs," said Kimojino. The dog handlers' team leader Shadrack Sabaya said they are now well equipped with the necessary skills. "We check all vehicles entering and leaving the park for firearms and animal trophies. The dogs will definitely get them," said Kimojino. Sabaya said the dogs helped them arrest four poachers, caught with snares and game meat, last month near the Tanzania border. Another two dogs manning the Oloololo gate screen vehicles entering the reserve from the Transmara side. "These poachers kill zebras, wildebeests and gazelles for meat, and elephants for the tusks. It must stop," Sabaya said. Sabaya said there are challenges managing crime scenes because of "contamination" by footprints and scent. People at the reserve are yet to learn the need to keep off crime scenes to avoid contamination, he added.

Source: PH.news.yahoo.comGiraffes and zebras were badly injured and left with almost no food when a deadly typhoon struck a Philippine island reserve for African wildlife, an international animal welfare group said Wednesday. Super Typhoon Haiyan felled many trees at the ' reserve when it raked across the central islands nearly five weeks ago, injuring some of its animals, said Birgit Leber of Vienna-based Four Paws International. "Eight or nine giraffes out of 21 need medical treatment," Leber, a member of a Four Paws team who had gone on a relief mission to Calauit earlier this month told AFP by telephone. "Two or three zebras have not been eating very well, and one was seen walking strangely," she said. The isolated 3,760-hectare (9,287-acre) island on the South China Sea was turned into a a wildlife reserve by the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1976. The current government has continued to promote the island to tourists as offering a glimpse of Africa in a remarkable tropical setting. Two of the reserve's giraffes had open wounds above their front legs that were probably caused by falling trees, said Leber, an assistant to Four Paws' director of project development. Four Paws learnt the injured animals had not gotten any medical attention at all, and it plans to send a second mission to Calauit in the next few days to treat them, Leber told AFP by telephone. "The (Calauit) animal hospital, sad to say, is broken and there is no medical equipment to treat the animals," said Leber. The first Four Paws team did not see the other animals, but observed that much of the food source of the giraffes had been destroyed. "Most of the trees fell down. Giraffes eat from trees, they do not eat from the ground, so there is nothing left for them to eat," Leber said. Four Paws brought six tonnes of emergency food rations to the island, good for three months, so its giraffes would not starve, she added. More....

Charles Musyoki, the KWS senior scientist in charge of species, on Wednesday said Grevy's zebra is facing a serious risk of extinction in the medium and long term and is now on the brink of being categorized as a critically endangered species.

"The animal was available in six countries in Africa in 1970s but now only 2,000 are available in Kenya and Ethiopia," Xinhua reported citing a statement issued by Musyoki in Nairobi.

The animal could also be seen earlier in Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and South Sudan.

The population of Grevy's zebra has declined from an estimated 15,000 in the late 1970s to the current 2,000.

This has been attributed to poaching, disease, and limited access to grazing fields and water resources as a result of competition with livestock.

The KWS, charged with championing the conservation of wildlife, recently held the fifth annual Grevy's zebra research conference in Nairobi to review measures taken over the past 10 years to stem the decreasing population of the species.

Grevy's zebra is strikingly beautiful and is popular with tourists, attracting thousands of high-end tourists to northern Kenya every year, where it is usually found.

Source: Sciencecodex.comTanzania has one of the fastest growing human populations in the world. But even if there are places where the population density isn't yet that high, the number of conflicts between humans and other species is expected to rise as pressure on land areas grows. Angela Mwakatobe, who recently defended her PhD at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, has studied villages at various distances from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to see how people interact with the wildlife and the best ways to protect both. The buffer zones around Serengeti and Tanzania's other national parks are subject to certain rules. Here, human activity is only allowed if it benefits both the environment and local communities.Schools and water wells"Farmers living close to Serengeti National Park get training on how to handle and protect the wildlife in the area, and are also given the sense that this is important to themselves as well," says Mwakatobe. The locals are compensated in the form of community investments, such as schools and water wells. Twenty-five percent of the income from the parks is fed back into local communities, and local authorities are supposed to distribute these benefits among the residents. Not surprisingly and in spite of these efforts, there are clashes between villagers and wildlife in the settlements close to the national park. But even 80 kilometers (49 miles) away from the border there are conflicts between humans and animals, her research shows. For that reason Mwakatobe thinks that education and support are also important for people even further away. The conflicts arise over attacks on wildlife, raids on crops, disease and use of bushmeat. Enclosures and guard dogs Attacks on livestock and crop raids are more common the closer villages are to the national park. In general, people who keep livestock in the villages located close to the protected areas are on constant guard with arrows and spears while their animals are out grazing. More....

Source: Blog.peta.org.ukBy AnneCongratulations are in order for our friends over at PETA India today! After a nine-month-long investigation of circuses across the country revealed widespread cruelty, the Animal Welfare Board of India has just decided to end the registration of elephants for performances – effectively putting a stop to the suffering of circus elephants.PETA India’s investigation of 15 circuses documented rampant apparent violations of animal-welfare laws, including animals dying from inadequate care, mysteriously “going missing”, denied veterinary care for injuries and being handled by drunken staff members. Elephants – who roam over vast spaces in the wild and live in complex matriarchal societies – may be snatched from their homes for circuses and forced to spend their lives in chains, in fear of being hit and jabbed. Nail-studded sticks and ankuses (metal hooks with sharp, spear-like ends) are some of the weapons typically used to “train” elephants, causing pain, bruises and bloody wounds to the animals’ bodies.Bollywood star John Abraham was one of many people who got behind the campaign to end this abuse. In a letter to the Indian government, he wrote, “Unlike human performers, animals are forced to entertain through the use of fear, pain or hunger”, and urged officials to make the compassionate choice. Shilpa Shetty, Vijender Singh and Wayne Parnell are just some of the other high-profile people who spoke out for elephants who were being forced to perform. This news is a fantastic achievement, but PETA India won’t be resting on its laurels. It’s now calling on authorities to take the next logical step forward by banning the use of all animals in circuses – because only willing human performers belong in the entertainment industry. Austria, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Greece already have laws against using animals in circuses. In England and Wales, compassionate people are looking forward to celebrating the imminent ban on the use of all wild animals in circuses. After concerted pressure from animal-protection groups, including many PETA supporters, the government has promised that the ban will come into force in 2015, sparing elephants, camels, zebras, raccoons and reindeer a life of misery, imprisonment, beatings and distressing performances. Video.

Source: Theecologist.orgBy Verity LargoPoaching is no longer about one man and a bow and arrow: it is a huge business, akin to international networks, sprawling across continents. From baby cheetahs, 'medicinal' rhino horn to carved elephant tusks, poaching is identified as a major threat to global stability, the environment. "Most days I'm bouncing around on bad roads for hours, I've lost count of the punctures." Helen O'Neill lifts out her two rocks that are wedging the back wheels stationary, plops them in the car, takes out the jack, and fixes on the newly punctured tyre to the tailgate of the jeep. Helen's morning commute must rank as one of the most splendid in the world. At 6.20am, after a quick boiled kettle wash in a bowl, a coffee, she drives off into the 2200 sq km area of the North Serengeti that she surveys, as part of the Cheetah Project. We're out looking for cheetahs with the Serengeti Cheetah Project. The main remit is to compile basic information about their habits and movements, across a long period of time. We've been driving for four hours, past numerous delighted tourists ogling bucking wilderbeest, startled zebra, colobus monkey, hartebeest, dik diks, oryx, rindebuck, lions and even a leopard. The cheetah project works in collaboration with Serengeti National Parks, and Tanzanian Wildlife Research institute, the most famous, and oldest cheetah project in the world. Helen isn't comfortable commenting on poaching. The conservation world in East Africa is highly political, and people must tread carefully: their visas and ability to keep working in a focussed area rest on not being too critical of East African governments. The tourist industry needs live elephants, not slaughtered carcasses that are funding arms to bomb shopping malls. Poaching is literally the elephant in the room. It's everywhere and massively on the rise. Al Jazeera says sixty elephants a day are killed in Tanzania. Recently the East African Wildlife Society commented:"The data collected over the last 24 months shows a massive escalation in the rate of illegal killing of elephants. The situation is now so bad that by most measures it can be considered out of control and certainly beyond the limits of what elephant populations can sustain."More....

Source: Namibian.com.naBy Adam HartmanIT is not just the stock theft figures for 2013 that are staggering, but the poaching of wildlife is just as worrisome and one beleaguered farmer from Omaruru can vouch for that. Adrian Lang of Okapekaha last month alone lost more than 30 animals that were trapped in snares and hacked to pieces for their meat. It was last month too when the gruesome poacher bush veld abattoirs were discovered in remote areas of the farm. Lang, over the past weekend, however, made even more gruesome discoveries of poaching on his farm.

While he and the police special task force were trying to clean up the farm of the snares, an eland cow, probably with calf considering the animal’s swollen udder, was found.

“It looked like it was killed by poachers with dogs, assegais and knives. They took only the front and back quarters. They cut the border fence next to railway road from where the meat was loaded on to a vehicle,” said Lang, asking: “Will this cruelty ever stop?”

According to statistics provided by the police spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi, between January and December last year 267 cases of poaching were reported. For this year, from January to September, 281 cases have been recorded. Therefore, there has been an increase.

In monetary terms for 2013 alone, Lang has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to poachers. Besides dealing with that, he is also awaiting judgment on an appeal he made in the Windhoek High Court. He appealed against a five-year imprisonment sentence imposed on him on a charge of culpable homicide at the end of his trial in the Swakopmund Regional Court on 15 April this year.

Besides the poaching on Lang’s farm, remains of zebra near the truck road to Rooibank near Walvis Bay have also suggested that poaching is also rife in Dorob and Namib Naukluft parks.

“One can clearly see that the zebras have been cleverly slaughtered. All their legs have been cut-off and thrown in the sand near the road with skin and what looks like flesh,” a resident informed The Namibian last week. More....

Source: Huffingtonpost.comBy Sally BeckAt the offices of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Northern Kenya, a terrible hush descends when news filters through that poachers have slaughtered yet another rhino. Recently, a two-day-old calf was shot dead, found lifeless next to its dead mother unceremoniously shot with an AK47 rifle bought from Russia. The mother had had her horns hacked off with a machete. Two other adults, relatives of the murdered mother and baby, were slaughtered too, their bloodied faces also missing their precious horns. The gloomy atmosphere that descended at conservation HQ, silenced the good-natured banter between work-mates for weeks. For Lewa's chief executive officer Mike Watson the losses were a bitter blow. "I feel a huge mixture of emotions. Frustration and sadness, but what's worse is when you try to explain to your six-year-old son what's happened and why it's happened, that's always quite emotional." Meanwhile, in the Lewa rhino nursery, Yusuf, one of the rangers, is feeding aptly named Hope, a seven-month-old male white Rhino whose mother was slaughtered by poachers on a neighbouring conservancy called Ol Pejeta. "I must give him milk every three hours," he said. "It is impossible not to get attached to these rhino. They do become like your children." Hope, has two playmates: three-month-old Kilifi, whose mother is blind, and 15-month-old Nicky who himself is blind. Hope and Nicky are rolling in a waterhole, coating their wrinkled hides in sticky mud, while Kilifi rolls over to have his tummy tickled. He sighs with delight and squeaks, making a sound like a large mouse. It's awful to think that one day these delightful toddlers could be killed for their horns.Lewa was a safe haven for the rhino, which had lost none between 1983 and 2009. Now 11 have been poached since the beginning of 2012. The 26-year rapprochement ended with the slaughter of three rhino in 2010 and 2011, and the aim to save and increase Lewa's herd of 62 white and 60 black rhino (which is listed by the World Wildlife Fund as critically endangered) was placed under threat. There are less than 5,000 left in the whole of Kenya and worldwide, one rhino is poached every 11 hours. More....

One of the Free State's natural jewels, the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, has not proved immune to the poaching pestilence that has swept South African game reserves.

Blesbok, eland, hartebeest, wildebeest and zebra are among the animals that have been targeted in the 11,600 hectare mountain park over the past three years, according to Environment Minister Edna Molewa. In a written reply to a parliamentary question, she said 15 of the poaching incidents in the park were "farm-related", perpetrated by local farmers. Measures were in place to counter this threat. "Rangers are deployed strategically in outposts within the park to conduct daily patrols and to facilitate a rapid reaction capability." Concerted efforts were also being made to "communicate and build networks within the farming community to ensure timeous exchange of relevant information, to implement both pro-active and re-active operations", Molewa said. The 50-year-old park, which is managed by SA National Parks, derives its name from the rich colours of its sunlit sandstone cliffs.

Source: Xperedon.comBy Alan ColeNamibia has rolled out dozens of community partnership schemes encouraging local communities to participate in the ownership and management of environmental resources and wildlife...[sic\ Rural communities are incentivised to manage local nature and wildlife with a major focus on sustainability...[sic\ Sustainable tourism is also a key element of the projects, and a reason for their success with the conservancies’ members generating income from the initiatives...[sic\ In 2012, financial benefits to members of the community led projects in Namibia was USD 6.6 million, reveals the WWF...[sic\ Subsequently, numbers of wildlife in the community managed conservation zones are increasing... including giraffe, zebra and lions...[sic\ Poaching of elephants and rhinos has also been reduced dramatically...[sic\ Conservation org the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has commended Namibia for its achievements...[sic\ This month the charity presented a 'Gift to the Earth Award' to His Excellency Hifikepunye Pohamba, the Namibian President...[sic\ More....

The Arusha National Park is turning into a zoo, surrounded by emerging human settlements from all sides; the country's oldest park has become an isolated wildlife oasis in which animals now face extinction due to inbreeding.

Previously, animal corridors used to connect the Arusha National Park with the West Kilimanjaro wilderness in the leeward of the continent's highest mountain, as well as Amboseli National Park just across the border into Kenya but all these passages have been blocked by people's invasion. The Chief Ecologist with the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Dr James Wakibara, told the Regional Consultative Committee meeting held to address the threats of conservation areas here, that the Arusha National Park, being blocked from other wildernesses in which its animals used to migrate back and forth, signals danger to the wildlife. "All animals, and even humans, must move from one place to another at times, this while sometimes is important for grazing it plays major role when it comes to mating and breeding," explained Dr Wakibara adding that since human beings have blocked all passages, causing the wildlife in ANAPA to be tightly confined within the small park. Measuring just 137 square kilometres, the Arusha National Park, located at the foot of Mount Meru, which is the country's second highest peak, also happens to be the water reservoir for Arusha City because all rivers and water sources originate from this conserved area. Despite being rather small, ANAPA has adequate wildlife; common animals include giraffe, buffalo, zebra, warthog, the black-and-white Colobus monkey, the blue monkey, flamingos and large pythons. Large African elephants as well as leopards are present, but rarely seen and lions have since disappeared from the park. More....

More than 30 wild animals were trapped in wire snares before either being left to rot, chopped up and the meat hung to dry on farm Okapekaha, which belongs to Adrian Lang, near Omaruru last week. The meat alone (that was used) was worth over N$70 000, but if the animals were spared for trophy hunting instead, the calculated loss would then be more than N$150 000. "It's been going on like this for 25 years. I have lost millions of dollars. We have tried everything but nothing helps," he told The Namibian on Sunday. Lang said he has had enough experience with poachers and that in fact, on 28 October, he will be appealing the sentence passed in April by the Swakopmund Magistrate's court which sent him to prison for killing a suspected poacher on his property. He spent three months in jail before he was released on N$40 000 bail pending the hearing of an appeal in the High Court. A few months after his release, a neighbour who flew over Lang's farm, informed him of an 'abattoir' on the property. GPS coordinates were taken and wildlife officers of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism set out to have a closer look at the damage. "The poachers found an excluded spot where no one comes. It's on a game track between the waterholes and there is grass," Lang explained. More....

CAPS is delighted to report that, despite a government Select Committee making recommendations that any ban on the use of wild animals in circuses should be limited to protect just big cats and elephants, the Minister in charge of the proposed bill has vowed to continue with plans to ensure that all wild animals are spared a life of circus suffering.

The ill-conceived Select Committee report was published in July of this year and was met with strong criticism by animal protection advocates. The report suggested that animals such as raccoons, foxes, zebra and camels were of little concern and that only big cats and elephants should be covered by any ban. This was despite the fact that all policy discussions up until that point had explicitly referred to a ban on all wild animal species. Campaign groups were particularly critical of the EFRA committee’s recommendations given that, at the time the report was published, there were no big cats or elephants in English circuses. In effect, it would have meant that a ban introduced under these terms would have failed to remove a single animal from the big top. Since July, one circus has introduced a big cat performance to its show. The CAPS team and dedicated supporters immediately took action following the release of the report to ensure that the hard work to end the use of wild animals in circuses was not derailed at such a late stage. Many supporters took action by emailing the minister directly to ensure that he was made aware of the strong support for an outright ban. Said CAPS Director, Liz Tyson: “We have worked hard since the disappointing report from the EFRA committee to ensure that the message was delivered loud and clear to Government that any ban must protect all wild animals. We are delighted that this has been recognised and that the Government was not swayed by the ill-informed advice from the EFRA committee. We look forward to seeing the ban introduced as soon as possible”. More....

A poacher was shot dead Thursday at Solio Ranch in Mweiga, Kieni West.

Security is on high alert after a suspected poacher was on Thursday shot dead by Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) rangers at a private wildlife ranch in Nyeri County.The unidentified middle aged suspects was gunned down at around 1.00 am at Solio Ranch in Mweiga, Kieni West.A sporting shot gun and one round of ammunition was recovered. Aberdare Nation Park Senior Warden, Christine Boit said that rangers guarding the ranch were attracted by gun shots from a section of the ranch and laid an ambush, killing the suspected poacher.Two of his accomplices escaped with serious gun wounds. Mrs Boit noted that over several rhinos and elephants have been killed by poachers within the region in the last one year.

He added that the rangers have intensified the fight against poaching. More....

Escalating poaching levels in Zimbabwe have negatively affected the Community Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire) programme set up to benefit communities from tourism.

The Campfire programme was introduced to guard against poaching as communities will be safeguarding their sources of income, directly benefiting from revenue from their natural resources. Over 90 elephants, unidentified number of lions, vultures and other species succumbed to cyanide poisoning in Hwange National Park, in a poaching case that has shaken Zimbabwe’s wildlife management. During debate on the presidential speech last week, Kariba MP Isaac Mackenzie said the Campfire programme was no longer sustainable. “On the conservation of natural resources, the Campfire programme, one of the first indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes in Zimbabwe, is no longer viable,” he said. “It has been seriously affected by the high rate of poaching.” Zimbabwe says it wants to raise $40 million to fight increasingly daring poachers, a battle that would include dealing with well-connected cartels. Conservationists have accused the government of reluctance to investigate possible links between senior government officials and wealthy ivory smuggling cartels. More....

While the government, in collaboration with other stakeholders, is waging war against poaching an investigation conducted in Arusha Region recently, especially in Longido District, shows that wildlife officials are likely to be key facilitators of the crime. Roughly between five and ten jumbos are killed in the Lake Natron Game Controlled Area in Longido district, Arusha Region, everyday according to an investigation by this reporter. The recent escalation of jumbo killing results from collusion between poachers and district officials, even wildlife officers expected to be custodians of the national heritage, sources said. However, The Guardian on Sunday could not independently verify some of the claims. However, Longido residents say wildlife officials in the district have illegally granted hunting licenses to individuals, allowing them to poach during the night. Though hunting licenses are granted at the ministry’s headquarters only by the Director of Wildlife Division, holders of the same have been using them to shoot animals at will. It was reliably learnt that there are cases of legitimate holders of tourist hunting licenses giving the documents to other individuals to enter the game reserves and other protected areas to kill animals. In Lake Natron area residents told this paper that they often tipped off wildlife officers on the poaching acts but the latter took no measures to stop the illegal activity.Engarnaibor village resident in the district Lameck Ole Moent claimed they have been giving tip offs to one wildlife officer (name withheld) on poaching but failed to do anything about it. The said they suspected him of being an accomplice in the illegal business. More....

Latest statistics has revealed that subsistence poaching has grown extensively in the Chobe region. A total of 400 wire snares were removed in the Chobe district in this quarter alone compared to 59 last quarter. 399 of those found in this quarter were from Pandamatenga area, council chairperson, Mwanota Kachanahas said. Speaking during a full council meeting, Councillor Kachanahas added that the rest of 81 snares were along the Chobe River. “This is a clear indication that subsistence poaching is extensive in the district and if it goes unabated it will have some negative impact on the wildlife resources in the district,” he said. He appealed to councillors to discuss these issues with their electorate and also revealed that Chobe district has lost 61 elephants and 52 buffaloes in this quarter due to drought and natural causes. The chairperson noted that the district is continuing to record a high number of animal mortalities due to drought and natural causes. He said human-wildlife conflict also continues to be a major problem in the district. Cllr Kachana said a total of 33 problem animal reports on property damage have been received during this quarter. These were largely due to lions, elephants and leopards. As a response to that, he said three teams have been deployed to Area 256, Kasane Township and Chobe West, and 12 predator proof kraals have also been constructed and handed over to beneficiaries. Since June this year, a total of 18 poaching incidents were recorded in the district. “The species poached include 14 elephants, two kudus, a crocodile, a zebra, an eland and impala,” he noted. He added that in all these cases, only three arrests have been made including Batswana and Namibian nationals. The chairperson also noted with disappointment that despite various government programmes to empower Batswana and eradicate poverty, the number of beneficiaries in the district has increased in this quarter from 806 to 820. “It is surprising to record high numbers of beneficiaries as one would expect to see a declining number of beneficiaries as they graduate and get rehabilitated through other government programmes,” he remarked.

China’s demand for luxury knickknacks lies beneath some spectacular carnage of late. As we highlighted in August, the illegal ivory trade funds al-Shabaab, the terrorist group behind the Westgate Mall massacre in Kenya late last month. Al-Shabaab finances as much as 40% of its operations this way. The supply of ivory for al-Shabaab and other militant groups is, obviously, dead elephants. As demand for ivory continues to surge in China and other Asian countries, the slaughter is growing industrial in scale and efficiency, fueling a trade worth $7 billion to $10 billion a year. Take for instance what’s going on in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. In what may be the single worst poaching incident in Africa in recorded history, so far, official data says 90 elephants have died from cyanide used to poison salt licks at watering holes. The actual death toll could be as high as 100. “Poisoning is not really common as a means to kill elephants but, unfortunately, in recent years we have seen more instances. The Hwange massacre, however, is on a scale not previously witnessed,” says Tom Milliken, an expert on poaching and the illegal ivory trade at Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network. And the brutality isn’t limited to elephants. The cyanide has killed “large though at this stage untallied numbers" of lions, cheetahs, zebras wildebeest and scores of other species caught in the proverbial crossfire, reports the Independent Online. Vultures, which typically feed on animal carcasses, are dying too.“This is the worst ecological disaster we have seen, and the fallout is going to be massive,” Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, told the Independent Online. The Hwange mass slaughter reflects a larger trend of “industrial” killing carried out by heavily armed groups, not just impoverished local hunters. As many as 50,000 elephants were killed for ivory in 2011, the last year with reliable data. That means poachers are wiping out 7.4% of the elephant population a year at a minimum, faster than the rate at which they reproduce. More....

Cyber crime is so insidious, we can barely function anymore without taking a certain amount of risk. Artful cyber criminals can steal our online passwords, hack our bank accounts, masquerade as us on Facebook and Twitter and even steal our identities outright. A new development, however, might just make you throw your hands in the air and mutter a choice expletive. You see, some tech-savvy poachers have figured out that they might not need to stomp around the jungle anymore, searching for days on end to find an endangered species to murder for its pelt or horns. Instead, they just hire a computer whiz. Wildlife officials who keep tabs on the Bengal tigers in India’s protected Satpura-Bori Tiger Reserve reported recently that someone hacked their computer database. The data stolen was information from a tiger’s GPS collar. Location data for one collared tiger, known as Panna-211, is suspected to have been compromised. Unfortunately, if would-be poachers are able to track this collar, it is likely to give them real time data on where Panna-211 is. All they’d have to do is go find him and kill him. Because no one has determined who hacked this information, the best Indian officials can do for the time being is keep a watchful eye on Panna-211 over the next several months. Many programs and organizations use GPS collars to track animal locations and movements for study and conservation purposes. From endangered hirola antelopes in Kenya to Asiatic cheetahs in Iran, GPS collaring is invaluable in the fight to save species on the brink of extinction. These collars allow scientists to track animal movements and travel routes so they can understand things like habitat needs, social behavior, predator avoidance techniques, hunting methodology, migration patterns and interaction with other local wild and domestic animals.A good example is the work done in Kenya in 2008 tracking the Grevy’s zebra. More....

'The hands-on nature of their work captured me. A grizzly might require five hours of nailing and fittings and then another five hours of combing and back-combing, identical to the work my stylists perform before a shoot with a fashion model,' he said.

'A neat stack of two identical lion pelts can yield a lioness that causes childhood nightmares or one that embodies feline grace and dignity.'

Growing up around hunters, McGregor remembers the many mounts on the walls of his uncles’ living rooms and always having a freezer filled with generic white wrapped packages ID’d with illegible sharpie scratch. Although McGregor veered toward the arts, his childhood fascination with sport hunting is reflected in his dark, but beautiful, images. Many photos.

The municipal administrator of Tômbwa, João Guerra de Freitas, said on Wednesday, in this city that the National Park of Yona has new means for focalization to patrol the area . Speaking to Angop, the official said that the means are four wheel motorbikes, walk talkies and Telephones. "According to the municipal administrator, 20 new supervising staff will be employed in order to reinforce the five existing employees." "With this means we will improve the supervision in the three entry gates of the National Park, thus, it will reduce the wild hunting of elephants, zebra, black and white Rinoceronte, among other species," He added. Last Wednesday, the fiscal staff have arrested illegal hunters, thus, they have confiscated their hunting guns and the hunted animals.

I was in Kenya this July, in Samburu County, working on a story about cheetahs, and found myself camping with conservationists at the ranger station in Meibae Community Conservancy. Meibae, founded in 2006 through the Northern Rangelands Trust, borders the Ewaso Nyiro River in Samburu County. It’s a dry, rocky region, subject to drought, and it’s a key wildlife corridor for the endangered Grevys zebra, as well as cheetahs and elephants. The local people, the Samburu, are pastoralists who keep goats, sheep, and camels and live in semi-permanent home clusters called manyattas. Samburu communities collaborate with the Northern Rangelands Trust in monitoring wildlife and creating management plans and future tourism initiatives. My Samburu guide, Chris Lentaam, was kind enough to act as an interpreter and facilitate interviews in the local market, where we spoke with young warriors (known as moran) and women about the state of wildlife and their concerns about the recent severe drought. The day was cut short when word came from the ranger station about a dead elephant in the area. The rangers’ truck was out for repairs, and they needed a ride to the site. We dropped off two rangers by the side of the road, and they marched into the bush where the elephant was said to be, about six miles from the road.

By nightfall, confirmation came that the elephant had been poached. More....